Apple will entrust the assembly of flagship iPhones to enterprises in India for the first time

Regular reminders from Apple management about the importance of China for the company, both as a sales market and a production site, do not detract from the fact that the assembly of devices of this brand is increasingly carried out in India. For the first time, the assembly of the current generation iPhone Pro series smartphones will be established here just a few weeks after their September premiere.

Image Source: Apple

Bloomberg insists on the implementation of such a scenario, citing its own informed sources. The Taiwanese company Foxconn Technology Group, which has already begun training thousands of employees at a plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, plans to assemble the new generation iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max in India by the end of the year. The maximum task is to arrange deliveries of the supposed Indian-assembled iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max with minimal delay relative to the world premiere in September.

Over the twelve months preceding March of this year, Apple, through its partners, collected smartphones worth a total of $14 billion in India, which allowed the country to be responsible for the production of every seventh iPhone at the end of the period, but we were talking specifically about entry-level models, if such a term can be used to Apple products. In the case of the iPhone 16 family, locally assembled smartphones will begin shipping immediately after the announcement, with the exception of the older Pro series models. Apple’s other two partners, Pegatron and Tata Group, will begin producing iPhone 16 Pro series smartphones in India if everything goes according to plan.

By the end of the year, Apple expects to fully cover the rather modest needs of the Indian market in specific terms with its Pro family smartphones; compared to imported devices, they will be able to cost customers up to 10% less. However, even locally assembled iPhones will remain more expensive in the Indian market compared to markets in other countries due to high customs duties on components and electronics. The bulk of the flagship iPhone models assembled in India will be exported. Over the previous 12 months, Apple was able to increase its revenue in India by 33% to a record $8 billion, so its products also have certain prospects in the country’s domestic market. By the end of the decade, according to Bloomberg analysts, Apple’s revenue in India could reach $33 billion.